Chapter 3: LIFE OF A SPIDER
*Parker's Residence (12:00 AM)
Peter was back at his house after the night he had. He went by Aunt May's window to see if she was awake, which she was. When Peter saw this he knew he was going to be in trouble. He took off his mask, gloves, and boots putting them in his bag and put his clothes over the rest of the suit. Then he went into the house trying to tip toe his way to his bedroom, but didn't make it as Aunt May found him even before he could go up the stairs.
"Aunt May! You're awake!" Peter said trying to sound surprised.
"Sit down Peter we need to talk." Aunt May said as she put her hand on his back as he led him to the kitchen. "I know you're a good boy, and you're growing up to be a fine young man. The man of the house now, but you're still my responsibility. I can't have you out 'til midnight." She said as Peter sat down on the chair in the kitchen table. After hearing this he felt kind of guilty for being so late. "You are to be home by ten o'clock, that's my bedtime." She said to him.
"But Aunt May-" Peter was about to say, but was interrupted to his aunt raising her hand telling him to stop.
"If you're late you call, before ten. If you do call, it better be to say that you are on your way home. That's the law in this house Peter. Do we understand each other?" She said and asked for his confirmation.
"Sure Aunt May. That's fair." Peter said sincerely.
"Lovely, now how about a slice of banana cream pie." She said happy she got through to him, and offered him the last slice she already had ready on a plate with a spoon. Which Peter nodded to.
"Okay, nothing went as planned today, understatement of the year. But, I'm still Spider-Man, and still undefeated, and I still have this amazing person watching out for me. Nothing better could be going on for me right now." Peter thought to himself as he took a spoonful of the pie.
*Gotham Streets (1:00 AM)
Batman and Robin had just finished transporting Batgirl back to the location to drop her off today so that she could head home herself, as today they had to deal with Scarecrow this time around since he came back from Star City. They were able to receive info from Oliver into why Scarecrow was in Gotham, which apparently was because he was receiving a new shipment of his fear gas that he made by adding Vertigo to the formula. Which left them no time to go and find Spider-Man so that they could talk to him.
Anyways it wasn't that hard to catch Scarecrow since he didn't expect Batman to know he was there because he took 3 months to make sure everybody possible stayed quiet. He apparently didn't realize that he should also have counted on his allies i.e. the Green Arrow.
They were heading back to the Batcave as Batman was starting to get impatient to see what type of information the police had in this new vigilante that was in 'his' city, Spider-Man. When they got there he went straight to the computer.
"Well, I'm going to sleep because of school tomorrow. Tell me if you found anything in the morning." Dick said as he was walking upstairs to the Manor after taking off his Robin suit.
"Sure will." Was Bruce's answer as he just kept working without turning his head back. Making Dick go to bed as he wondered about what Bruce just said.
"Is he being serious, or not? You can just never tell if he is being sarcastic or serious. His voice is so monotone that it has less waves of emotion than the waves in the Gotham Lake." Dick thought to himself as he passed by Alfred saying goodnight to him.
"Goodnight Master Richard." He said back to him.
"I've already told you my name's Dick." He said as he kept walking to his room.
"I'm sure it is." Alfred told him back. Making him wonder as well if he was trying to be sarcastic, or he was finally recognizing his name. "Well, knowing Alfred it's probably the first." He thought to himself as he finally got into his bed and went to sleep.
*Wayne Manor (7:00 AM)
"Good morning, Bruce. Good morning, Alfred." Dick said as he sat down on the table that was in the dining room.
"Good morning, Master Richard."
"Good morning, Dick." They replied back. Hearing the greeting from Alfred just resolved one of the thoughts from last night. He was trying to insult him, what a bastard. It actually made Dick smile since it just showed that Alfred was never gonna change.
"So any clues to the new Spider-Man?" He asked to Bruce as he received his breakfast plate from Alfred.
"Yes, apparently he's changed his 'heroism', if I recall that's what Master Bruce said." Alfred said as he asked Bruce last night when he had to tell him to get some sleep when it was already 4 in the morning.
"What does Alfred mean by that?" Dick asked this time looking to Bruce.
"It means he has stopped with his vendetta and has realized what he should do, or he caught the guy and since he didn't know what to do next he liked the thrill and has just kept it going." Bruce said as he didn't raise his eyes from his newspapers.
"Have you searched who was the last guy he caught with the characteristics he has been searching for?" Dick asked him making Bruce drop his newspaper down and glare at him, which made Dick have a deadpan look. "Of course you did." Dick said to him and giving himself a note to self to not ask Bruce obvious questions, at questions that seem obvious to Bruce. "Who was it?" He asked wanting to know.
"Surprisingly, the Cat Burglar." Bruce said turning back to his newspaper.
"Did you- you know what, I'm not gonna ask, you probably did. How many guys has he killed?" Dick asked him.
"3 actually, Justin Norby, Elliot Fanning, and... Ben Parker." Bruce said as this time he turned the newspaper and showed the headline to Dick as he just showed a face of shock and surprise as the newspaper was talking about how the Cat Burglar was finally caught and how he was the main suspect in three murders, which were about the three people Bruce just said.
"Justin Norby didn't have any family left, Elliot Fanning was a foster child, but Ben Parker has a certain teenager that still lives with his widowed wife." Bruce said to Dick.
"Are, are you insinuating that Peter could be the Spider-Man?" Dick asked him, not wanting to hear the answer as he already knew it, but didn't want it to be true.
"Well Master Richard, I'd think that that would be pretty obvious by the use of his words, don't you think?" Alfred said as he came back from the kitchen with a new pot of fresh coffee for Bruce.
"You know, you're sarcasm is going to run out one of these days." Dick said as he glared at Alfred tired of it. "I keep wondering if you have any other tone of voice, but you just keep correcting me." Dick said again only drawing raised eyebrows from Alfred.
"Well then, if that's the only tone of voice you hear, then don't expect any more goodnights and good mornings from me." He said as he left back to the kitchen after filling Bruce's cup of coffee. Making Dick turn to Bruce and see him smiling, only making Dick slap himself in the head.
"I'm so stupid." Dick said.
"I would think so as well!" Dick heard from the kitchen only making him slam his head against the table. Drawing raised eyebrows from Bruce, who just shrugged and went back to the newspaper.
Dick sighed. "I'll apologize later... I'm gonna be late to school. And I'll see if Peter really is Spider-Man." Dick said as he started eating fast as he saw that the clock hit 7:30 AM. Bruce didn't look up from the newspaper, already knowing Dick was going to do that before he told him his guess of who Spider-Man is.
*Gotham Science High School (8:10 AM)
Peter kept walking by the halls as he went to his locker, seeing Barbara standing there waiting for him, Peter had been having this thought in his head all day since the morning telling him that he was forgetting something, and seeing Barbara only brought it up more to his mind, but he just couldn't remember.
"Hey Pete." Barbara said as she finally saw him.
"Hey Barbara. What are you doing here? I'd think that you would be in your first period already working away." Peter said joking to her.
"Ha ha, very funny. But I just came here to make sure that you didn't forget about our date for today." Barbara said to him which drew an alarm in Peter's brain as he finally remembered what he was forgetting. He luckily kept it cool and didn't show any reaction to remembering.
"Pssh, please how could I forget a date with the great Barbara Gordon?" Peter said drawing a small blush from her.
"Don't try to save yourself, I know you forgot, Dick told me how you didn't even talk to him once about it yesterday. He said he was surprised to not see you so excited to just go home and go to sleep early so that today could come quicker." She said to him drawing a confusing look from Peter. "His words, not mine." She said defending herself.
"Ok, well yeah I did forget, but I have just had a lot on my mind lately, Uncle Ben mostly of course, but Aunt May as well. But I've been getting through it, and if you are at any moment gonna ask me if I don't want to do it because I don't feel up to it. Then my answer is no. I've been waiting for this since 7th grade." Peter said the last part without thinking which made him realize what he said 3 seconds later which made him smack his head mentally.
"Oh really?" Barbara asked him finding this intriguing.
"Uhm, yeah, well, you see, uhm." Peter kept trying to figure out what to say, but he was tongue tied.
"Well good news for you, because I've been waiting for you to ask since 7th grade." She said to him only making Peter drop his jaw so fast when Harry saw it from his own locker a couple of yards away he thought Peter dislodged it from it's place. Wondering what was going on he went to check it out.
"What? You thought those smiles and glances meant nothing? I was trying to clue you into the fact that I liked- and still do -you too." She said only making Peter turn around to the lockers and smash his head against them... only for him to make a big dent on them. Peter realizing what he did tried to cover it up.
"Wow... these lockers are just so old. Am I right?" He said making Barbara's eyes that were about to pop out to look back at him with her eyes going back to normal.
"Yeeeeaaah, right." She said wondering what was up with Peter, his voice made it sound like he was trying to hide something.
"Ok, so what happened here that made Peter dislodge his jaw, and also receive a concussion?" Harry asked as he finally reached them.
"I just found out that Barbara here liked me since 7th grade as well." Peter told Harry making him put his hand outwards and pull his fingers back as he meant to say 'give me'. Peter just sighed now hating his life as he took the 5 dollar bill he was going to use for lunch and gave it to Harry.
"What was that?" Barbara asked.
"Harry here made a bet that all of your looks and glances weren't just because you knew that I liked you. And most of the time when he makes the bets, no matter how long in time it takes, he makes me pay up." Peter told her which made her look at Harry with a raised eyebrow.
"What? I kept telling him that you were interested, but he kept saying you were just trying to be friendly, I wanted you guys to happen. So I made a bet out of it to prove it." Harry said as he put the five bucks in his pocket.
"It's not that. My question is, why does a rich guy always have to make bets? It's like one of the most stereotypical things about rich people." Barbara said only making Peter agree as he glared at Harry.
"Because we actually have the money to back it up. That. Simple." He answered making Peter think that he probably was asked this question a lot.
"Still, so were you really that surprised? I mean how did it come up anyways?" Harry asked them.
"Because like always I make slips and I said how I have been waiting to go on a date with her since 7th grade. Only for her to tell me she has been waiting just as long for me to ask." Peter explained to Harry who was trying his best not to laugh.
"Oh wait till Dick hears about this. I'll leave you guys alone, there's five more minutes until class starts, and I think y'all have to talk." He said as he started leaving.
"So what are the exact details for the date?" Barbara asked Peter as she hugged her books closer to her.
"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could have a cup of coffee at CC Jitters, and then we could take a refill with us while we walked around the park. What do you think?" He asked her.
"Well, my answer is yes, and yes." Barbara said.
"What do you mean?" Peter asked.
"Yes to the coffee, and yes to the walk around the park." She explained drawing a mouthed oh from Peter as he now understood.
"You know, I never actually asked for your address." Peter said making Barbara go right to her bag, take out a pen, tare out a piece of paper from her notebook and start writing.
"Here you go." She said as she gave the paper to him with her address, the minute bell ringing, making both start going their separate ways, but Peter stopped making her realize her mistake.
"It's apartment 1837. I don't know how I could forget to write that." She said as she mentally slapped herself, but glad to only receive a smile from Peter.
"Great, I'll pick you up at six." Peter said as he started to walk backwards slowly.
"And I'll be expecting you." She said as she did the same and turned around to start speed walking to her class, same as Peter as that was their goodbye to each other.
When Peter crossed the corner he started running, his first class was all the way at the other side of the school. Realizing that there were no students in the halls (so he thought), Peter started to run close to 30 miles per hour, not wanting to draw to much attention to himself from inside the classes.
He also used the walls when he needed to make turns by jumping on them and running on them for a moment to then push off them. Then when Peter turned the last corner he heard the bell making him jump forward to the front of the door and then jump again this time throwing his body into the class as he did a roll.
When the bell stopped ringing, Peter stood up and pumped his fist to himself and mouthed yes. Obviously everybody in the class looked at him weird, but Peter then thought that it was for a total reason. And that's when Peter realized it.
He was in the wrong class.
"Sorry... wrong class." He said as he backed up slowly back to the door and then when he opened it rushed out and went to the class that was right in front of the class he mistakenly went into. Peter walked over to the door as it was closed and slammed his head 3 times to it to knock on it and hurt himself at the same time, as he felt stupid as crap at the moment.
When the teacher opened the door he walked in and went straight to his chair.
"Mr. Parker, glad you could join us." Mr. Hunter said.
"Sorry Mr. Hunter, won't happen again." Peter said.
"I hope so, now class-." He was interrupted by another knock to the door, which was now annoying him, although this time he had a good guess to who it was.
"Mr. Grayson, happy to see you could make it this time around." Mr. Hunter started saying right before he could open the door completely, and what do you know, it was Dick.
"Sorry, Mr. Hunter, I forgot the book again in my locker." Dick said as he went to his seat next to Peter and Harry.
"If your memory was any worse I'd think you'd forget your name sometimes." The teacher said getting tired of Dick being late.
"Yeah, I guess so." Dick said taking the insult since he knew that it was getting irritating for the teacher.
"So what happened to you Peter? Dick has his reason, what was yours?" Harry asked him while Dick started sitting down, also hearing the beginning of Harry's question.
"Me and Barbara were finishing up the details to the date." Peter easily explained.
"That's what I thought." Harry told him guessing that that's what happened.
Dick though was thinking back to when he tailed Peter to class as he was thinking how it was possible for Peter to be able to run at the speed that he actually ran at, since it was almost impossible to follow him from behind as Peter was going too fast, thanks to the training he received from Bruce though, he was able to barely keep up, but really the only thought Dick had was simple. "Peter is Spider-Man."
*Wayne Manor (4:00 PM)
As soon as Dick opened the front door of the Manor he started running, avoiding Alfred on the way to the library to go down the stairs to the Batcave. As he went into the library he threw his bag into the couch that was in it as he played the notes on the piano that he memorized since day 1 to open the secret entrance from the shelves. When it opened he started running down the stairs taking them by threes. When he got to the bottom he went to the computer as Bruce was waiting for him as he looked at the breaking news of Penguin breaking out of Arkham... again.
"I think you're right, but for that to be true. I need to know all the possible powers that Spidey may have." Dick said to him without saying hello. Bruce obviously didn't mind since he has always been such a serious man.
"Well from what I've been able to tell from witness reports and security cameras is that he has enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, and agility. Plus adhesive powers on his hands and feet, wall-crawling really, and finally a theory of an early warning system." Bruce said to him as he was still looking at the details from Penguin's prison break.
"What? How does he have so many powers?" Dick asked him, not thinking that he actually had that many. "I mean I believe the speed, agility, and wall-crawling. But from where do the others come in?" Dick told Bruce.
Which made him sigh and take off the details from Penguin as he put them aside as he showed Dick the video from the security cameras that come from a bakery that apparently was being broken in by three guys, in which they were foiled by Spider-Man. Seeing the whole video only left Dick shocked as it really looked like he barely tried. Although when he saw what he did with the pies really made him have a chuckle.
"Well, I can see the reflexes, and stamina, but where does the strength come in?" Dick asked him.
"Did you not see how he could easily pick up those three guys together onto the lamppost?" Was Bruce's obvious answer.
"Ok yeah, there's the strength." Dick said as he realized that just then.
"But how did you get that early warning system as a theory?" Dick asked wanting to know as much as possible.
"He easily knew where each swing from all the guys where going to happen before they happened, but I think there is also a possibility for it than just being a warning system, again just a theory." Bruce said as he went back to the Penguin prison break.
"Well anyways, back to what I was saying. Peter being Spider-Man, big possibility." Dick said making Bruce shut off the computer turning to Dick wanting to hear this with full attention.
"Talk." Bruce told him.
"Well, before class started, I followed him, and since his locker is all the way on the other side of the school me and Barbara, well mostly Barbara, were able to keep him there close to after the last minute of when class starts. So I followed him, or at least tried my best as I barely was able to. But anyways, he was running faster than a normal human ever could. I think he was hitting 30 something miles per hour, but also when he'd have to make turns, he ran across the walls and then got back on the ground, and I mean ran like he was at a 90 degree angle to the wall." Dick explained to Bruce everything he saw. "And now that I think about it, I totally believe the super-strength because he was able to jump- without even trying might I add -from the beginning of a hallway to the middle of it." Dick said to the side of his explanation.
"Hmm. Well this obviously sums it up, now we know who it is under the mask, the question is. What should we do about it?" Bruce asks Dick wanting his opinion to be accounted for.
"I think that maybe we should let him be, if anything he's not messing with major criminals, just petty crimes. So it's bringing down the crime rate as well. I say let's just see how far this takes him." Dick tells him thinking it was probably the best way to go.
"My thoughts exactly." Bruce said as he turned back to the computer. "Now... go do your homework." Bruce told him drawing a grunt from Dick as he went back upstairs. "And don't forget you wanted to apologize to Alfred!" He shouted up to him only drawing a bigger grunt.
*Parker's Residence (5:00 PM) (Peter's POV)
I have been working nonstop since I got home on things I have been thinking would be good upgrades to my suit, as well as for the web shooters. I have already come up with an idea of a belt under the shirt, having replaceable web cartridges on them if I ever need a refill, and seeing the Bat signal in the skies most of the time gave me the idea of making my own Spider-Signal on my belt to make my self known, or for advantages in a fight or something.
I have also been thinking of ideas for my web shooters, I mean I have already been able to make globs, strands, and impact webs out of them. The impact webbing is mostly the way the webbing comes out of the shooter as they come out as small cannon balls that travel at high speeds as they hurt a lot when they hit a bad guy.
When I look up at the time I put my notebook aside and decide to take a shower. When I'm done, I start getting ready to go over to Barbara's apartment that is close to the park and CC Jitters, so if I web swing on my way there I might just make it in 15 minutes. So i go to the bathroom to take the shower and when I'm done, I start dressing up, when I'm done I like the turn out of my choices, a blue button-up long sleeve shirt with jeans that luckily hide my suit underneath. When I look at the time it says that it's 5:35 PM. Giving me plenty of time to make it, and also to get flowers.
Since now I'm used to having the web shooters on my wrists at all times, I just went downstairs, said goodbye to Aunt May and to expect me to be late because of the date and when I went out the door, I went into an empty alley, then I looked around making sure nobody would see me. I climbed up the walls on to the roof, not trusting this city very well, I only put my mask and just started swinging in the direction to Barbara's apartment. Stopping to get the flowers, I obviously took off my mask for that moment, but I was able to get a couple of roses. I mean no one can hate the classics.
After I stopped to get the flowers I went into another alley, this time I didn't put on the mask, trusting height to help people not see my face. When I saw Barbara's building ahead I went to the side of the building beside it and went into the alley that was between the two, when I dropped down I started walking in the direction of the door, but as soon as I tried to pass by the doorman he stopped me raising his arm.
*No POV
"Woah, can I help you sir?" The doorman asked me as he dropped his arm.
"No, no, I'm going up to-" Peter says as he realizes that his bag is open with the gloves of his suit pointing out and tries to put them back in the bag subtly.
"Dropping off or picking up?" The doorman asks.
"Am I what?" Peter asks him not understanding.
"Are you dropping off or picking up? You are a messenger, you have a package in your bag." The doorman clarifies.
"I don't have a package, I'm not a messenger. I have a date with-" Peter says while trying to close the bag subtly. But the doorman sees him and cuts him off.
"What's in the bag?" He asks Peter.
"I have to go up, I'm gonna be late." Peter says trying to change the subject as he starts walking to the door, but is stopped again.
"Who are you going to see?" The doorman asked him.
"Barbara Gordon, you know Barbara Gordon, she's in apartment 1837." He says trying to show that he knows her.
"Your name?" The man asks Peter who totally wasn't expecting the question so it took him longer to answer.
"Peter, sorry, it's Peter Parker, why?." He says after finally understanding the question.
"Is she, uhm, tutoring you?" The doorman asks making Peter just stare at him... he's the smartest kid in school, he doesn't need no tutoring which Peter answers the doorman's question just by shaking his head side to side saying no.
"Can you open your bag please?" The doorman went back to the bag making Peter want to kill himself, but he didn't answer the question as he was getting tired of this.
"No bag, no Barbara." The doorman clarified.
"Fine." Peter said and turned around to leave.
Peter went back to the alley that he came in and web-zipped up pulling himself higher and higher, when he got to the roof, he started to climb down slowly, he counted down from the 20th floor all the way to when he reached 18. Now there where 20 apartments on this side, and on this side were the odd apartments.
He just went to the second to last window in which he jumped in on the fire escape that was there, when he looked into the window he saw her inside, and then realized that this was probably her room. Now nervous because of it Peter knocked on the window three times getting Barbara's attention.
"How did you get up here?" Barbara asked him after she got up from her seat and opened the window letting him climb inside.
"The fire escape... your doorman's intimidating." Peter told her as he finally was completely inside her room.
"It's eighteen stories." She said which got a simple answer from Peter.
"Yeah. This is your room." Peter said changing the subject.
"Yes it's my room." She said realizing what he meant.
"I'm in your room." He said as he was now more nervous than ever.
"Hey, hey it's ok. Wait what happened to yo-" She was about to ask, but she was interrupted as her bedroom door opened.
"Sweetie-." James Gordon started saying, but stopped when he saw Peter.
"You must be Peter." He said trying to push the thought away of the fact that he was in his daughter's room.
"Yeah, nice to finally meet you sir. You're a legend of a cop." Peter said as he really was amazed by how much Barbara's dad had done all over the city, helping bring crime down, even before Batman came into the mix.
"Thanks, now what are you doing in my daughter's room?" He asked as he couldn't avoid the thought any longer.
"I tried to go by the front door, but your doorman's intimidating so I came up the fire escape." Peter said explaining why he was here.
"It's eighteen stories." Gordon told him as Peter couldn't believe that he was being told this twice.
"Yeah I know, but nothing could keep me away from your daughter sir, I've liked her since seventh grade." Peter told him which drew a smile from his dad.
"So this is the Peter you always talked about? The Peter Parker?" He asked his daughter making her blush as she only nodded.
"Well, she wouldn't stop talking about you since seventh grade as well, you're lucky you asked her out, she was talking about how she was going to give up." He told Peter.
"DAD!" Barbara yelled as now she was mad.
"No no it's fine, I gave my Aunt May the same burden as well. Plus, Aunt May always says I have always been hard-headed." Peter said. James Gordon was liking Peter, he apparently knew what to say to get rid of tension or any type of awkwardness.
"Well you have won my blessing. You two can now go to your date. And Peter, have her here before nine alright?" Gordon said and warned Peter.
"No problem, after all, I don't want to get shot." Peter said to James drawing a chuckle from him.
"Come on Barbara, I think this date was overdue, don't you think?" Peter talked to her now.
"Yeah I do." She said as they walked out of her room and out the front door.
"I hope they have a better relationship than what me and Barbara had. After she walked out nothing has been the same for me and Barbara, she walked out on us because of alcohol. I hope they don't suffer through something like that." James thought to himself as he saw them walk out the door.
*Outside the Apartment
"That, went well." Peter said to her insecurely.
"Yeah... talk about total embarrassment." She told him, making him laugh and receive a teasing punch to the arm from her. He acted in mock hurt.
"Hey, at least it wasn't with Aunt May, trust me, she says the weirdest things about me." He says as he shudders in disgust.
"Now I want to meet her even more." She said trying to get on his nerves. And when she saw his face of how scared he is of that actually happening, it made her laugh.
"It's not funny, I still find out that she knows so many of my secrets, which is creepy!" He says a little loud as they're going down on the elevator. "Who knows if she knows that I'm Spider-Man as well." Peter thought to himself.
"Oh! Before I forget..." Peter said as he goes back to his bag to take out the flowers he got. "These are for you." Peter starts saying, but his words started slowing down because he saw how smashed together the flowers are, probably from the jumping and swinging.
"I'm sorry, sorry really I didn't mean for them to end up like this." Peter starts saying, but his words are intertwined with Barbara's own words.
"No no, they're alright, they're great." She tried to say, but Peter wouldn't stop trying to apologize so she kissed him making him feel paralyzed.
"I-I-uhm... I. Herrhem." Peter tried to speak, but then cleared his throat.
"They're beautiful." She says as she takes the ones that were not damaged. "See they look fine." She said as she looks at him making him draw a smile as she give him her own.
"Wow... talk about looking for the best in people." Peter said drawing a laugh from Barbara.
They walked out of the elevator when they finally reached the lobby walking out of the building, Peter forgot about the doorman, but he obviously didn't forget about Peter.
"Hey! I told you that you couldn't go inside." He said making Peter turn around look at him as he remembered.
"I had a date, you weren't going to stop me. By the way, you should put security on your fire escapes." Peter said as he started running with Barbara's hand as they both started laughing at the face the doorman gave. "Huh, when he wants something, he wants something. Now that's what I call a stubborn man." The doorman thought as he also guessed that he was gonna see the kid a lot more in the next couple of weeks.
Peter and Barbara kept walking in the direction to CC Jitters as Barbara started thinking back to what Peter said in the morning at school today.
"Hey Pete, what did you mean that you were also thinking about Aunt May?" She asked him as she was just too curious, although she was expecting him to say something that was like 'nothing you need to worry about'.
"You mean in the morning at school?" Peter asked her which she nodded. "Well on Wednesday I came downstairs ready to go to school, and I overheard the conversation she had with a neighbor, Anna, who is also one of her closest friends, she was talking about how we were not being able to go by with no money." Peter told her and explained to her what he overheard.
*Flashback (Peter's POV)
I was jogging down the stairs as I was ready to go into the kitchen and say good morning to Aunt May, but I overhear she is talking with the neighbor Anna again.
"It isn't getting any easier Anna." I hear Aunt May say hiding behind the wall of the stairs. "We're almost out of money." When I hear that I start feeling guilty.
"But May, I'm sure Ben left some-" I hear Anna trying to comfort Aunt May, but she is cut off by her.
"Ben Parker was many, many wonderful things, but a financial wizard he was not." Aunt May said trying to make a joke out of it, but while I heard her say this I also put my hand on a picture that was on the wall of Uncle Ben, her and me as I felt distraught about another problem coming form Uncle Ben's murder... that I could've stopped.
"*sigh* I miss him so..." She said as she was now feeling down, but apparently she hated that feeling as she laughed. "Oh, but listen to me go on, we'll manage. And please not a word of this to Peter, I wouldn't want him to be concerned." She told Anna and I took that moment to make it my entrance as I pretended that I was going down the stairs from the top by hitting my feet on the same step a couple of times and then actually went into the kitchen.
"Herrhem, hey, Aunt May, how's the most beautiful girl in Gotham this morning." I said as I walked over to her and kissed her cheek, but what I said drew a laugh from her.
"Oh Peter, now hurry off... you don't want to be late to school today, after all, you still have that goal of yours of not missing a single day." Aunt May told me as she gave me my lunch bag and also as I headed out of the door.
"No ma'am." I said as I gave her a smile, but when she turned back to Anna my face went back to one of concern, as she was right, I am going to be worried about it as I left to swing on to school.
*Flashback ends (No POV)
"Wow, so what exactly have you been thinking about it?" Barbara asked him after hearing his story.
"Well, that's the problem. I don't know what to do, obviously the first thing needed is for me to get a job, but the problem is that I don't know where." Peter explained to Barbara as they finally reached CC Jitters and he opened the door for her to go in.
"Thank you, gentleman." She said in a mocking tone.
"No problem, my lady." Peter told her mockingly as well, but she didn't expect him to say that so she blushed again and tried to hide it.
Peter then walked in himself and together they went to the counter to order their drinks.
"Hi, may I take your order?" Asked the cashier/waitress. Peter looked down at her name tag and started to order.
"Hi Sarah, I'll have a large Italian Cappuccino, and she will have..." Peter said as he started to look at Barbara trying to point out that she should order herself.
"A large half and half coffee with 3 sugars." Barbara said right after she saw Peter's look.
"Ok, is that all?" She asked them, Peter was about to answer no, but his stomach growled and it made Barbara try to hold in her laugh, but was having a hard time, as she was also receiving a glare from Peter, although he was trying not to laugh as well.
"I think my stomach answered for me, we'll have 3 doughnuts, all chocolate glazed?" He said and said the last bit as a question as he looked at Barbara who just nodded her head yes.
"Ok, if your stomach is happy now, the total is sixteen dollars and 72 cents." Sarah told them as she added all of the numbers into the machine.
"Talk about living in an expensive state." Peter muttered to himself, but Barbara heard it and chuckled to herself. Peter went to his wallet and took out a 20 as he still was taking care of half the money he won from the wrestling match.
"Wow Pete, I thought you said you and your aunt were having trouble with money?" Barbara said as she was able to catch a peek at Peter's wallet and see all the bills he had in there, and she thought that if there were a few more bills the wallet would bust. Peter then didn't know what to do, he didn't have anything to back up the fact that he had so many bills in his wallet, he was stuck.
Finally getting an idea of what to say after he finally gave the 20 to the cashier/waitress, he took the receipt and looked around to see a private spot to talk, and decided on just going outside to sit down, after all, they take the coffee to the person so he didn't need to worry about not getting their coffee.
"Uhm, well, I entered a competition and I was able to win the prize money of one thousand dollars." Peter said telling the half-truth, and decided to keep the major details to himself.
"Well, I only saw like half in your wallet, what happened to the rest?" Barbara asked him.
"Well, the other half I put in the stash of money Uncle Ben had for emergencies which is what Aunt May is having to use to pay the bills, but they're going to run out fast, I give it one month tops, I thought of that so that it would give me enough time to find a good job that can help on the long run." Peter told her, afterwards they stayed quiet as they saw that the coffees and doughnuts were coming over and they both considered this conversation private.
"Wow, you really feel responsible about all of this don't you?" She asked him when the waitress left and they both grabbed a doughnut and took sips from their coffee and cappuccino.
"You have no idea. And I also promised to Uncle Ben that i would take care of Aunt May at his funeral. I need to, she can't work herself, she is beginning to get into the stage in where the human body is so delicate and fragile, I have to take care of her." Peter explained to her, and hearing all of this only made Barbara feel more amazed by how Peter is so mature for someone their age, after all, he is 16 for god's sake.
"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Barbara asked him which drew confusion from him.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"The way you care, and put everything on your shoulders, it just shows and proves maturity and the need to help others as well as put them first over yourself. If anything that makes you one of the best guys at school. And I am lucky that you actually asked me out." She said, and when Peter heard the ending it made him feel warm in his cheeks, that's when he realized that he was blushing and tried to hide it shyly.
"Well thanks." Peter said as he kept looking away, but now felt the sharp pain of his spider-sense at the back of his skull warning him from danger. Peter now suspicious looked around to see what was causing it, but now he was hearing a whine coming from above him and saw a bird. Or so he thought as he saw more closely he saw that it was a human in what looked like tech flight, and what surprised him even more is that he was carrying something on his feet, worse yet it was someone.
He heard them yelling talking about something. "Toomes, stop! What will any of this accomplish!" He heard a voice that sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"A means to an end, Osborn! Something you know all about!" He heard who he guessed was Toomes. And when he processed what he heard he realized who was the one being carried by the feet of the man... It was Harry's dad.
"Uhh, Barbara I have to go, I just realized that Aunt May needs help with setting up a new shelf. Yeah so I'll see you tomorrow." Peter said as he started getting up to go to an alley and change, but he wasn't the only one to notice and hear Toomes and Norman Osborn in the air as she herself was getting up.
"No it's alright I forgot that I made plans with one of my friends to go to the mall and I need to go home to change." She said as she started running back in the direction of her house, making Peter think that maybe this wasn't going to work out if what she said was true.
But that didn't matter now as he went to the alley that was beside the CC Jitters and started taking off his shirt and then took off his jeans, then put on his gloves and boots and finally his mask, now when he was nearing the end of the alley he took his bag with the clothes that were now in it and threw it against it shooting a web at it so that no one decided to take it while he was saving Norman.
He then jumped as high as possible and landed on the roof of the building and started running full speed, now people thought Spidey was just an urban legend, but after today it was going to be a real person.
Peter kept running in the direction they saw them go jumping from rooftop to rooftop and after gaining enough speed, he jumped off the next roof now swinging away, soon enough he caught up to them as kept swinging at full speed and was able to hear their conversation again.
"You will publicly apologize for stealing my invention!" He heard the so called Toomes yell at Norman, which made Peter think that that was just the end of his demands towards Norman as he was threatening his life to obtain them.
"I will do no such things old man!" Norman said making Peter feel like he was a very brave man as being in the position he was in would destroy almost anybody's confidence.
"I may be an old man, but I'm not a patient one!" Peter heard Toomes yell, which Peter decided was his cue to push his limits of speed as he also saw Toomes starting to fly higher into the air higher than the buildings. He then dropped Norman as he was falling screaming.
"NO!" Peter thought as he let himself fall and then swung again and caught Norman in the air, seeing that he had him in his grip Peter decided to let his joking side pop out.
"Woah guys, you play hot potato hard core." He said as he thought Toomes face was priceless by how he didn't expect him to catch Norman.
"Wh- What is this! These skies are mine now!" He heard Toomes shout behind him as he was now swinging not to catch up to Toomes, but to swing away from him.
"He may be right, I really just rent." Peter says talking to Norman as he kept switching him from arm to arm so that he could web swing with both hands.
"What are you babbling about? Put me down!" Norman asked and told Peter as he was getting tired of being helpless to himself in the air.
"Dude, you are the bossiest damsel in distress that I have ever rescued. Also the ugliest, heaviest, and the first." Peter told him wanting to get back at him for the many times he treated Harry poorly and he had to say... he felt a weight off his chest.
"Who are you?!" Surprisingly Toomes and Norman asked this synchronized, but Peter didn't put his mind to it, he put his mind more on his swinging.
"Why I am your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man of course." Spider-Man told both of them as there was a tight turn he wouldn't be able to get around of so he let himself swing towards the building in front of him and landed on it with his feet with Norman hanging down from his arm, and jumped off as soon as he landed to keep moving.
"Spider-Man?! But I thought you were a myth!" Spider-Man heard Toomes say as he kept flying towards them.
"I'm in need of a press agent." Spider-Man says as he keeps avoiding Toomes, but apparently Toomes got smart and with one of his wings cut the webbing before he could shoot another one and made Spider-Man lose grip of Norman.
While Spider-Man is falling he sees two cops coming out of the precinct that he was trying to reach and thanks to Toomes this was going to be easier.
Spider-Man flipped his body in the air falling head first and putting his arms and legs straight to increase his speed, he catches Norman and gets ready to yell to get the cops' attention.
"HEADS UP!" He shouted getting their attention and some people in the streets as he shot another web and went low almost touching the sidewalk, but threw Norman to the poor Detective DeWolff who was having a conversation with her partner.
As Norman ended up on the ground with DeWolf. They both started getting up, but they went back on the ground as Toomes came close with his now seen talons that were on his feet, but missed.
"What's going on?!" DeWolff asked Norman as they were now standing.
"Explanations inside! NOW!" Norman yelled as he started running into the precinct followed by the detectives. Toomes seeing this just kept going forward not risking to go back and getting shot at by the police with the now known Spider-Man following him.
"Look Beaky, I admire anyone who dresses up as their favorite animal, better yet you can fly. So I gotta ask, have you ever heard about revenge not being the best choice for your problems?" Spider-Man told him as he was now in front of him and was web-swinging backwards as he was also facing Toomes.
"Urgh." Toomes grunted as he increased his speed making Spider-Man having to move aside and land on a building and saw how he just started flying in an upwards angle leaving the scene. "Woah Beaky, don't fly away mad!" Peter shouted at him and it made Toomes lose his nerves with that name.
"The name is VULTURE!" The now named Vulture shouted at Spider-Man as he left.
Spider-Man knowing he couldn't follow him in the sky, decided to go home. But before he could he heard a voice call him.
"Hey! Was I too late?!" Spider-Man looked across from the building he was on the side of and saw someone he wasn't expecting to see... Batgirl.
"Yeah he flew away mad that I ruined his flying party." Spider-Man said as he jumped off the building and web-zipped to her side. "So, what brings the all beautiful Batgirl into the light? I thought you were nocturnal?" Spider-Man asked her, and she was happy she had the mask all the way down to her cheeks because then Spider-Man wouldn't be able to see her blush.
"Well, when there's trouble I believe there are exceptions to when I wake up." She answered to him as she looked at the precinct seeing Norman coming out of it. "Good to see you were able to save him. Do you know what exactly that guy was after?" She asked him now getting serious.
"Well, while I tried to catch up to him I eavesdropped into their conversation, and apparently Vulture was demanding that Norman had to publicly apologize for stealing something that he made." Spider-man explained to Batgirl as she was listening closely to everything he had to say to see if she could find anything out of it and obviously she did.
"Well, we might need to bring Batman into this, if he's going to do this again, Batman will want to be a part of it." Batgirl said as she kept looking at the location she saw him leaving when she got there.
"Why couldn't he be out here now? Doesn't he realize that crime doesn't just happen at night?" Spider-Man asked her as he would've liked having some help.
"Batman, he's kind of complicated. He likes fighting crime using darkness as his advantage, and it helps to scare the crooks and bad guys when they know that at any moment they could be the ones attacked. So if he starts popping out in the day, people are going to start realizing that he is just as much a guy as anybody else, the dark is his power, if he doesn't have it, he isn't as strong." Batgirl explained to Spider-Man and that got him a little angry because it just made it sound like Batman went out to fight crime when he felt like it, doesn't matter if crime is heavier at night, it just was going against his Uncle's promise and he was going to give Batgirl the lesson.
"It shouldn't matter when you fight crime, a great man once told me something that I have lived by ever since I lost him. That with great power comes great responsibility, meaning that if you have the power to do things that will help people you have the responsibility to do those things, so if you have the power to fight crime, then you have the responsibility to fight it at anytime it doesn't matter the time of day, because at any moment a person can die, get hurt, or lose someone close to them. It doesn't just happen at night, it happens in the day too. So tell Batman that if he really wants to help this city, to worry more on who he has to fight, than when he has to do it." Spider-Man told Batgirl and then jumped off the building and swung away leaving her in doubt to what he said, because he sounded like he was her age, yet he sounded more wise than some elders that she knows.
"Well, one thing's for sure, he wants to help people the best possible way he can." Batgirl said to herself as she went back to her house... she needed to call Peter and see if they could have another rain check.
*Batcave (8:30 PM) (Bruce's POV)
"Sir, are you sure you should be spending so much time on the new vigilante? After all, you and the Justice League are all hands on deck to find the new Secret Society that is being led by Grodd." Alfred suggested to me as he always looks out for the best of me, although sometimes he just uses sarcasm to such an extreme measure that even rivals that of a teenager's.
"That is true Alfred, but I am trying to find out what Peter is trying to do, and also see if my new theory of Peter doing this on the long run is going to become true." I explained to him as he has has been showing up a lot more, and also the fact of the news talking about how he saved Norman Osborn from a new villain calling himself Vulture.
"Barbara also told me about his own opinion about me, and he did bring out a fact that even I may have to agree on." I told Alfred as he was leaving my dinner beside me.
"Oh and what would that be?" He asked me.
"Well, he literally gave her a speech about something that I think his uncle told him before he died. It has to do with great power and how if you have it, you have the responsibility to use it for good. He then described how if Batman has the power to help people not just at night, but in the day as well, it's his responsibility to do so. And you know what, I think he might be right." I explained to Alfred as I turned to him to see him face to face so that I could get his advice from this.
"Well since you're giving me the look for advice..." Alfred said as he started smiling making me smile at him as well. He was my father figure after my parents were murdered so he is one of the very few that can get me to smile so much. "Then, I'd have to say that there is truth to what he says, but the question is not can Batman help people during the day. The question is, should he help people during the day? Putting his life at risk even more since then he wouldn't have any shadows for his advantage and protection?" Alfred told me and left.
"He made sense, after all, if I did get killed in the middle of battle during the day and my mask was taken off then a lot of people would easily find out that Batman is Bruce Wayne. But I also have to look at it in Peter's point of view, if we can help people and save them, it shouldn't matter if we die or not, because if we're dead and people find out who we are then it really wouldn't matter because well, we're dead. Peter's right, maybe it's time that Batman didn't just work at night. It makes even more sense to do it since Barry and Clark haven't stopped bothering me about it every time that I've been in the Watchtower." I kept thinking and there were a lot more pros than cons so I decided that it was time that people found out that Batman is not just nocturnal.
Next Chapter: The Truth Revealed